Introduction

Biography

Benjamin was the hus­band of Lu­cy El­ea­nor Whit­man.

At age eight, he be­gan work­ing in a fac­to­ry half time, at­tend­ing school the oth­er half.

When he was 11 years old, his fa­mi­ly emi­grat­ed to Am­er­ica, set­tling in Wor­ces­ter, Mas­sa­chu­setts. He be­gan work­ing in a cot­ton fac­to­ry, and was lat­er ap­pren­ticed to a boot mak­er near Wor­ces­ter.

In March 1864, he en­tered the Aca­de­my at Wil­bra­ham, Mas­sa­chu­setts, and in 1866 en­rolled at Wes­ley­an Uni­ver­si­ty, gra­du­at­ing in 1870.

Entering the min­is­try, he moved to West­bo­ro, about 30 miles from Bos­ton.

In 1892, he be­came a pro­fess­or of La­tin at the Penn­syl­van­ia State Col­lege, and lat­er, pro­fess­or of Greek and Latin dean of the School of Lang­uage and Li­ter­a­ture, and col­lege chap­lain.

He al­so helped found the Li­ter­ary Club, a fa­cul­ty or­gan­i­z­ation at Penn­syl­van­ia State Col­lege.

In 1902, Wes­ley­an Uni­ver­si­ty award­ed him a Doc­tor of Di­vi­ni­ty de­gree.